Gaston College improves to 4-0 with impressive home win

Gaston College's fast start to the 2022-23 season continued on Wednesday night with an efficient all-around effort in an 80-58 victory over Combine Academy of Lincolnton, at Gastonia's Ashbrook High School gymnasium.

The Rhinos trailed only briefly in the game's first 3 1/2 minutes as they improved to 4-0 on the season.

Gaston College's defense forced 13 turnovers and limited the visiting Goats to 35.4 field goal shooting on a night where the Rhinos had six players score seven or more points.

Sophomore Caleb McCarty led the way with team-highs of 17 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.

"McCarty is improving every day," Gaston College coach Jamie Rosser said. "He's giving us the precise kind of inside presence that we need and he's always sacrificing for the team."

McCarty had three blocks in each half as the Rhinos roared ahead 34-18 after the first half and led by as many as 29 points in the second half before taking the 22-point victory.

Other key contributors were Dee Merriweather (14 points, 5 rebounds), DaMarco Watson (13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists), Dedrick Givens (12 points, 7 rebounds), Asil Hoyle (9 points, 4 assists) and Jamal Ukaegbu (7 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists).

"Our goal is to play at a certain pace and they did a good job mixing it up and playing a 1-3-1 zone that affected us a little bit at the start," Rosser said. "But we recognized it and adjusted with a well-executed response."

Gaston College returns to action on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Lakeside Prep of Huntersville at Ashbrook High School.